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Have you ever tried to get unsubscribed from an e-mail list? I have a site that I’ve been trying to get rid of for one year, and I can’t do it. The best I can do is getting the message to go to my spam box!

How come subscribing is so much easier than unsubscribing? Isn’t customer service giving the customer what they want? Maybe companies don’t check out their own policies or take their own suggestions.

When I get done unsubscribing I really hate them for putting me through all the nonsense.

My friend told me of his experience with Kmart and Sears; I think it’s a good lesson on “unsubscribing warfare.” We pick up the conversation as it gets juicy (my comments in italics).

Dear Mr. Valued Customer, (names have been altered to protect K-mart!) Thank you for contacting kmart.com. (Hmn, I wonder if its so?)

We apologize for the inconvenience of receiving unwanted emails. Please send your full address and we will remove you from the email and call list. (Simple enough, like he hadn’t sent it at least 4 times before?)

We do appreciate your business but understand this frustration. Please have a great week.

>> > > >Original Message Follows: ———————— >When I insert my email address as you describe, your system will not recognize my address (even though it continues to send emails to that address) so I cannot get your system to forward to me my unknown password.

Are you starting to get a picture….there appears to be no way for ME to end this.

I never signed up for your emails (I didn’t even shop at Kmart & now most certainly won’t).

I don’t know my password to stop them, & apparently, even if I did know the password, your system wouldn’t recognize my email & password, allowing me to stop them. I didn’t ask for this,

We are sorry to hear that you would like to unsubscribe from our marketing list.

To stop receiving e-mail promotions from us please visit our site and click on the “My Profile” link located in the top left of the website. You will then need to follow the steps listed below:

1. Enter your e-mail address and password. 2. Click on “My Information” link located on the left. 3. Scroll down and select “I would like to receive special offers, updates and sale alerts.” under “E-mail Specials” located near the bottom of the page. Make sure the checkmark is removed from the box. 4. Save and return to Overview. Once these steps have been completed your e-mail address will be removed from our mailing list within a few business days. We thank you for your patience. We appreciate your business and again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused you.

We appreciate your recent correspondence. We welcomed the opportunity to email you our many in-store and online specials. (OMG)

We are sorry to hear that you would like to unsubscribe from our marketing list. To stop receiving e-mail promotions from us please visit our site and click on the “My Profile” link located in the top left of the website. You will then need to follow the steps listed below:

1. Enter your e-mail address and password.
2. Click on “My Information” link located on the left.
3. Scroll down and select “I would like to receive special offers, updates and sale alerts.” under “E-mail Specials” located near the bottom of the page. Make sure the checkmark is removed from the box.
4. Save and return to Overview.
Once these steps have been completed your e-mail address will be removed from our mailing list within a few business days. We thank you for your patience. We appreciate your business and again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused you.

Ok, so, if the customer doesn’t get it the first time, send them the same message under another name. And don’t forget to try and sell them….again!

So my friend responds:

Original Message Follows: ———————— I want a person in a position of authority to call me at XXX (And who might that be?)I have currently been “unsubscribing” to your unsolicited emails for several weeks each time I receive one. In addition, I’ve emailed this address & requested to be removed from your email list a minimum of two times. I have already resolved NEVER to make another purchase from Kmart, Sears or any associated stores.

I will now start a verbal & electronic campaign with everyone I know to boycott your stores. Upon receiving the next email from Kmart I will locate the proper governing body & complain to the government of your harassment. (Now it’s gone global, maybe it’s the wrong country?)

Apparently Kmart is so inept your E system doesn’t automatically delete my email automatically with my request & the personnel either are overworked, incompetent or uninterested.

Go for it XX!

I believe XX is currently alive and well after receiving a call from the President of Kmart who personally unsubscribed XX!

Please feel free to forward this off to anyone having a problem unsubscribing or needs a good laugh!

Customer service often gets lost in a business; lost in the everyday of doing business. Businesses get lackadaisical, often forgetting their core business or how they got into business. Basically they forget their customers.

Can you remember when the service attendant pumped the gas for you? New Jersey is one of the states where you can’t pump your own gas so you can actually have the opportunity to experience this customer service from years gone by.

If you’re planning on "heating up that bottom line" you are doing to walk in the customer’s shoes. Identifying with the customer, their distress and taking them seriously. The more distressed the customer the more difficult to keep the customer. Businesses spend more time and money getting new customers than they do training their salespeople. The more difficult the economy, the more likely businesses are to recruit new customers rather than pay attention to their existing customers. Existing customers are the life blood of any business. Excellent word of mouth is spoken gently, bad word of mouth is screamed.

Tonight I went to Ben and Jerry’s for yogurt but before I bought I asked if we could look up the calories. He didn’t roll his eyes or act annoyed he just said, do you have a particular flavor in mind? I said no, I just want to know about the calories and I don’t want to look too hard. He laughed and said they actually aren’t that high. He went on to explain about the serving size and the number of calories in each serving. I found that the frozen yogurt was pretty low, 170 calories. Again I was amazed. The more he talked the more I liked him, the more I liked him the more I wanted to buy. Isn’t this how customer service improves the bottom line?

How do you know if your customer service is the best, you don’t but you can become the company your customer can’t live without? Train your employees first and advertise later. There’s no reason to capture customers if you can’t keep them. Define ways to keep your customers and then advertise to get them. Cherish your customers before they buy and show your customers the kind of service they can expect.

I recently found out it was better to eat the French fries at McDonalds for 230 calories and 11 grams of fat than eat a chicken crisp sandwich for 360 calories with 28 grams of fat. Who would have guessed?

Is this a good thing?

As a consumer isn’t it better to have all the information and make your own decision than have someone make it for you?

Does the vendor lose? I chose the French fries because I’m hungry and they taste wonderful and are ½ the price of the chicken crisp sandwich. By the way, I feel good on both counts. But McDonald’s loses because I spend less money.

Maybe they really don’t lose; before I was just ‘not informed’. Buyer beware, eat at your own risk! Now I feel like I’ve been duped. Actually I doubt the people that worked at McDonalds were worried about the calories, they were more worried about their jobs.
I wonder if the owners thought about it, what do you think? I bet they’re not happy about the calorie counts.

What types of warrantees do you have that you don’t discuss with your customers? As a flooring inspector customers often tell me, "nobody told me that." I often wonder, did the salesperson really omit that the carpet should be vacuumed, cleaned, seams aren’t invisible or the carpet will shed? Were they afraid if they told the customer they wouldn’t buy? How about their flooring warrantees? Is it still only one year when many of the responsible retailers give lifetime warrantees. Warren Buffet wrote a letter to the shareholders and explained that he had lost millions by acting slowly on closing the trading arm of Gen Re, Berkshire Hathaway's wholly owned subsidiary. I doubt if Warren will be fired for his honesty since he controls a majority state of Berkshire Hathaway.
Why not tell the customers and deal with the customers concerns before the job is done and the customers are really upset? As customers we are responsible for what we buy but isn’t the salesperson obliged to help us with our concerns or bring up issues that are unfamiliar to us?

A great salesperson let’s customers know their options and gives the good news and the bad news so the customer can choose what’s best for them. We need less help if we buy a newspaper than a sofa although it would be nice to know that the ink from some newspapers comes off on your hands and clothing. I think the next time I buy a newspaper and the ink gets all over my face and hands I will go back and demand a refund.

How about this problem. I purchased a suede jacket in the airport at The Spirit of the Red Horse. If you’ve been there you know they have great looking and expensive clothes. The inside of my jacket said, ‘dry clean only’ so when it got dirty I took it to the dry cleaners. My local cleaner refused to clean it because of the ‘bead work.’ So the next time I went to New York City I brought the jacket and asked the same question. Guess what, after three dry cleaners I realized it wasn’t getting cleaned. No one wanted the liability. Should I have known? I think so. Would I have bought it, I don’t know. I would have thought at least twice before deciding. I finally called the store, and after several managers one finally said send it in, no problem we’ll clean it for you. It has been 4 months, no jacket and no word. I faxed them a letter last week requesting my money, a new jacket or the clean old one. I received a call and was told the manager was on vacation. You know the end of this tale, they can’t clean the jacket.

What would the tag have said? Maybe "Buy at your own risk — you figure out how to clean it we can’t." I guess as consumers we should read the fine print and if there isn’t any we should make it up.

I just returned from a trip to Orlando, FL and worked with several different groups of people. Business owner Randy Stinson of Stinson Carpets invited me as a speaker for the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce and to meet with a group of flooring retailers to discuss business concerns. Stinson Carpets, a leader in the flooring industry, was given the honor of Mohawk ColorCenter Dealer of the year for the Florida Region. Randy Stinson, CFE of Stinson Carpets, is community minded and a team player. He hosted the discussion group at his store and invited other regional Color Center Dealers as well as the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce. In addition Stinson’s has the privilege to host the Chick-fil-A Leadercast here in the area on May 7 from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The Leadercast is about experiencing authentic leadership, learning from the world’s best leaders, awakening your passion to influence and aspiring to impact lives.

Why does Randy work so hard in the community, especially when business is so challenging?

"I’ve always been a team player," says Randy. "I believe in my community and in bringing events that benefit all of us. With the world changing so quickly it’s important to stay with and ahead of the trends. Customers are the lifeblood of all of our companies and they deserve the best of what we have to offer."

Business is better, but business is different. The new home market is quiet, remodeling is picking up and residential customers are shopping. Things should be all good, right? Well there are some other things. These other things are called social media; specifically Facebook.
If you need to find information on a carriage, do you Google or Facebook? It seems that Facebook is starting to rival Google for information. Consider that you’re looking for information on a baby carriage. If you put baby carriage in Google you will get over 3 million citations. When you get all done, will you know what type of baby carriage you need; will you trust what you read? Let’s put “I need a baby carriage” and "what should I buy" in your Facebook search and what will come up? Probably answers from 15 friends on what they’ve bought and what works. You can’t buy these referrals.

How important are referrals? They are the lifeblood of any business. By the time a business is 5 years old, 85% of their new customers will come from referrals. Every business needs to find a place for customers to share their experiences. Apparently recommendations from friends on Facebook are rivaling the Google search. Is carrying more weight than the Google search. It makes sense to me; I would rather hear what my friend has to say about the baby carriage than all the citations from Google. It’s personal and my friends have no vested interest in what I purchase.

It’s obvious what this means. You had better get up to speed if you’re looking for customers. Customers posting to your “like" (or fan) page will be providing information to “possible customers.” Think of how this can snowball and provide you with new customers.
We talk about word of mouth, with Facebook and Twitter you have the advantage of listening to conversations. You also have the opportunity to influence conversations with customer testimonials.

This brings me back to these meetings in Orlando. One of the big topics was social media, why it’s important and how it fits. Barbara Abramson, one of the group members, not only knows how to use social media, I think she’s one of the most “in the know” flooring people I’ve met. Barbara and her husband Ira own Sanford Carpet, which they took over from Ira’s parents. Barbara has brought innovation and energy to the sales floor while Ira handles the installation. During our meeting Barbara was helping make videos, taking photos, tweeting and celebrating her birthday on Facebook. For the next meeting Barbara agreed to get everyone up to speed in social media if they wanted to meet again. Another outcome of the meeting was the development of the Central Florida Color Center Leadership Council. Despite the time necessary to effectively run their own businesses here is a group that’s devoted to each other’s success. They don’t see themselves as competitors, they see themselves as partners.

The next meeting is set and Barbara is going to get everyone up to speed in social media. This is serious folks, everyone has to bring their laptops and their Facebook and Twitter accounts and be ready to work.

"Even the best business is like a leaky bucket," according to Daniel G Alcorn, Strategic Business Owner and creator of ShowAppreciation.net, a company geared to helping business owners improve their marketing effectiveness through customer retention strategies. Instead of trying to stop the loss of existing customers, businesses spend their time trying to recruit new ones.

Last week Dan invited me to attend Business Referral Networking Group, BRNG, as a guest and listen to his presentation on appreciation marketing. The group which was started and owned by entrepreneur Bonnie Ausfeld works on the premise that members need to educate each other on their services rather than trying to sell them services. This is what makes this group so unique. Through these presentations members are able to learn new skills, promote their business and get to know each other quickly, which builds a sense of trust. “Trust," says Bonnie, "is the basis for any good networking group. How can you refer anyone unless you feel good about that person and trust their expertise.”

Having been involved in many networking groups I found Bonnie’s premise to be quite unusual and rewarding. You mean I don’t have to listen to boring sales presentations for an hour?

No stranger to business, Dan cited some statistics about the business climate and how businesses are reacting. In tough economics business are likely to cut back many services in an attempt to get their costs in line. Often the cost cutting also means not keeping in contact with previous customers.

The “leaky bucket theory” basically looks at a business as a bucket with liquid customers coming into the bucket through promotional or acquisition marketing. This fills up the bucket and translates into what businesses call market share. Unfortunately, according to Alcorn, the average company loses 10% of its customers through the leaky holes in the bucket. If a business were to ‘stop up these holes’, Alcorn says, research confirms businesses would improve margins and profitability. Paying attention to why customers defect also sheds light on the problem. According to a study by Reicheld and Sasser for the Harvard Business, the review cites that 68% of customers leave because of ‘perceived indifference,’ another 14% is dissatisfaction and 9% for competitive reasons. That means that 91% of customer defection can be impacted by the business if they choose to stay in touch with their sold customers. My experience with conducting customer defection surveys is that 9 times out of 10, unhappy customers will tell the salesperson that their reasons for not buying is a price issue. When these customers are surveyed, they are willing to give up the real reason which is often the store didn’t pay enough attention to me.

When it comes to marketing, where do businesses spend their money? A business divides its advertising and marketing dollars between promotional dollars (to entice new customers) and appreciation marketing to minimize defection. Despite the statistics, 60-70% of the possibility of success rate with existing customers and 5-20% for enticing new customers, most businesses spend as much as 80% of their marketing resources on obtaining new customers. According to Michael Lowenstein in his article, “Model Modelers in Predictive Churn”, Search CRM, June 2002, 62% of customer defections can be modified if discovered in advance. Often times businesses rely on ‘reports from unhappy customers’ as an indicator of business health, the U.S. Department of Consumer Affairs reports that 96% of unhappy customers never contact the business, they just go away unhappy.

The key is staying in touch with your customers. But Instead of ‘throwing some against the wall and hoping it will stick’, a business should know their targeted customer and spend time staying in touch.

Should a business spend time trying to retain their customers or let their 20 or 30 years of referrals do it all for them? The big question, are customers that don’t complain really satisfied? That brings us back to the last statistic that 96% never complain, they just go away unhappy.

Statistics tell us that 80% of a company’s new business will come from referrals but what about the customer that is unhappy? What is this customer saying about your business? Can bad business overshadow your referrals? With a defection rate of about 20% yearly it’s easy to see how a business can sell themselves out of business. In my book, Red Hot Customer Service I talk about how retention strategies can keep any business in the black.

What can a business do to stop the leaks in the bucket? The first step is to pay attention to your existing customers and track the results. This simple step can be the difference in life or death of your company.

If you want to know more about appreciation marketing and want a free consultation on how appreciation marketing might help your business, contact Dan and tell him "any friend of Lis’s is a friend of mine!"

Here's my latest blog post over at Talk 1300 called "Become Different and Irresistable".

I’ve been reading how high-growth companies, even in bad times, spend little time thinking about staying with their competitors. Instead, they make their competitors irrelevant. How? By continuously trying different things that will delight their customers, code name: customer service.

High growth companies—irrespective of their industry—all described what has been called the “logic of value innovation.” Firstly, don’t try to get better than your competitors. Instead, become different and irresistible. Look for new markets and find out what they want. Look to customers for the future rather than the present. Always thinking, what would my customers want?

Like many of you I liked it the way it was—at least I thought so. Now is the time to try something new, take some risks and give it a try.

Like you, I’m meeting people, talking with my neighbors and finding new ways to be part of my community.

I want to share with you my venture into radio, a great local talk radio station; Talk 1300 AM (in Albany, New York and the Capital District) and Talk1300.com outside the area. The show is called Red Hot Customer Service : all about business and ways to improve your bottom line.

The show is from 10-11 every Sunday morning and archived after the show on Talk1300.com. It also includes a ½ hour guest spot for businesses who are making changes and finding new ways to connect with their customers whether it be through traditional means or through social media. Like many, they are forging new paths. Listen in and get some new ideas for your business.

If you’re interested in being on my show, or have ideas for me, call me at 518-495-5380. In any event, please tune in and let me hear from you.

About a year ago I was asked to help develop an event for Jack Laurie Home Floor Designs in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Interestingly enough, the idea was to plan a networking event for interior designers, architects other trade people and friends. Usually events seem to be about “selling things” but this was more about helping others build their businesses.
The event was the idea of John Hoffman, general manager of Jack Laurie Home Floor Designs.

"We really appreciate our area interior designers and customers in general," says John. "They create business for us and it would be nice if we could do something to help them grow their business. We see our relationship with our customers as a partnership and we are happy to add a little extra to the relationship. We have been very successful with these events in the past but it’s time to try something new."

One of Jack Laurie Floors’ past events has grown into a yearly event: the pilgrimage to NEOCON in Chicago. John says this is one of their most popular events which everyone loves. Jack Laurie Floors rents two luxury buses and shuttles approximately 100 interior designers to the event. This makes it easy to attend; we play games on the bus, sing, enjoy good food all day and generally have a good time. According to John, "We get to spend time together away from business and get to know each other better. We also discuss what we saw at NEOCON and what we liked and didn’t like. Talking about products helps us know our designers better so we can buy the right samples for their customers."

With the economy suffering, generosity goes a long way. Getting out and meeting people is time consuming as well as difficult to mix in with busy schedules. Combining fun with information is a great double header. This was the basis for their event.

So, do these events really help a business? Everyone seems to thinks so. If nothing else, it pays off in good will and everyone gets a chance to network and meet new people.
I spoke with Phil Troyer, Architect and Owner, PA Troyer Architect, about why he attended this networking event. His response: “You always have to look out for new ways to build your business.”

I was amazed to find Joe Bjerk, COO, Guardian Relocation/Home Moving and Storage with locations in Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne and Columbus at the event. Even though he's not in the flooring industry, Joe told me he was excited to be invited to this event.

"I got to network and picked up some ideas for marketing my own business," he said.

Planning an event? Take some advice from General Manager, John Hoffman:

Know your audience, what they need and what will help them with their business.

Don’t forget students from your local design college. This is a great opportunity to get to know them, share information and build new contacts for your store. The college can also provide you with great interior design interns.

Have enough staff to talk with all the customers; it’s up to them to meet and greet their guests.

Plan a program that’s fun. If it’s too serious it just gets boring.

You don’t have to talk about business all the time; this is a good way to get to know people.

Invite people with different backgrounds and different needs; mix it up. This makes it more interesting and better networking.

Serve good food and drink so your guests feel special. They are special!

Get your vendors involved so they can network with your customers.

Be sure and follow up with your guests. In the case of Jack Laurie Home Floor Designs, the educational part of the event encouraged them to create a new Facebook fan page; then they emailed all attendees to ask them to become fans.

Every business needs customers to grow their business and growing your customer base means putting in time networking both face-to-face and through the Web. If you love your customers, this is a good way to show them.

People yell, "Don’t remind me of my birthday – it just reminds me of my age." And what’s wrong with that?

Why are birthdays only important to kids and not most adults? They could remind us of a most important time in our life, our birth. I don’t know anyone who actually remembers their birth but I’ve heard some do. I bet your parents remember; it was probably one of the most memorable days of their lives. I remember when my sister was born, I was six at the time, and it was a terribly snowy night. I remember dad putting me in the back seat of the car, wrapped in my raggedy blanket (I never went anywhere without it) with a bottle of juice. Maybe you have a brother or sister who remembers your birthday event.
I started thinking differently about my birthday about 30 years ago when my parents were still alive. I sent my mother flowers on my birthday, she was thrilled. I told her that without her participation I wouldn’t be here. She actually thought it was quite funny until I asked her about my birth. She asked how many times did she have to go through it. We laughed about the snow and daddy pacing outside the delivery room. These days anyone is allowed in the delivery room including the paparazzi. I asked my mom if her doctor, Dr. Bowerhan, was a good doctor to which she replied, he made house calls and in those days that made him good. Mom said I cried all the way home, no mommy and nothing to show for the night intrusion. Like many 6 year olds I thought birth meant the possibility of a horse.

I asked my older cousin about my birth; she said everyone was excited — except her, she didn’t really care!

I also talked to my dad; he laughed and said "your mother never made anything easy. Both you and your sister were born in the middle of the worst snow storms in history." What about your grandparents? Your birth was also their special event. When did they first get to see you, what presents did they bring? I called my grandparents, they cried. I was the first grandchild. I wish I had some videos.
My friend Mary celebrates her dog’s (Basil) birthday by giving him a party in the park with his dog friends and their parents. She orders dog biscuits and pizza, take your pick. Basil gets to dress up and Mary gets to throw a party—any excuse. It’s actually quite an event, Basil has about 20 friends and he looks cute with his balloons tied to his collar. I used to celebrate my cat Maguai’s birthday; she used to walk on a leash but wasn’t friendly with the dogs in the park and we never found any cat friends.
Some people name their cars/trucks and celebrate their birthdays. Some people celebrate their home’s birthday. Some celebrate the birth of the house and the death of the mortgage.

Maybe you’re adopted and have two sets of parents to thank. You can’t have too much love.
How about your business? Do you celebrate its birth and all the hard work you put into keeping it alive?

Every day I think, what can I give thanks for, what can I celebrate? I have two new kittens and have given them birthdates so we can celebrate. Spring is worth celebrating and so is the sun. How about to be alive and celebrate the day? If you’ve ever been really sick, you know what I mean.

I went to a workshop and they had us build a life chart on graph paper. The chart represented a carnival and the years used were considered rides. We were asked to chart our life from year one to the date of our probable death.. We then colored in the “rides” already taken and to compare them with the ones left. I used hot pink for the rides I had already enjoyed and left the others blank. Scary, there were fewer rides for the future. How many rides do you have left?

How many seasons do you have left to enjoy, how many vacations will you take?

Let your birthday be the reminder of who you are and those you love the most. Italian food and a movie with my friends suit me just fine. Hey enjoy the rides. Thank you all for the wonderful notes, cards and telephone calls. Today’s the day to thank you all for your support throughout the years. I’m so lucky to have you in my life. I love you all.

I don’t know how many of you remember or have seen the reruns of Ernestine, the silly Switchboard Operator who couldn’t get anything straight… but we liked her!

Customer service alive or dead has prompted many of you to respond. A good friend of mine and prominent Canadian businessperson sent me this felonious report. Apparently my friend has been doing business with this well known Canadian manufacturer of flooring products for 30 plus years.

While in the process of producing advertising material for her company, my friend said she needed some explanation on a product from one of the companies included in the material. She made her call, introduced herself to the switchboard operator, explained the purpose for the inquiry and asked the switchboard operator to confirm the company’s address and 800 number before the brochure went to print. Keep in mind, my friend is no stranger to the company and she isn’t from one of those states that is notoriously rude… in case that’s what you’re thinking.

Anyway, even though the switchboard operator knows my friend, duh (my friend’s words) she quickly asked "did someone from our company tell you to call here?" My friend replied no, to which the switchboard operator replied "then I can’t give you the information." Another duh!

According to my steaming friend, she (nicely) re-iterated her need and was told there was no way that she could get it. But in all her helpfulness, the woman replied she could go to the Web site. Meanwhile I can hardly see the keyboard through my tears of laughter as I type away. My friend interpreted this as a “get lost” and she found herself saying that she felt the woman was being rude. The woman, obviously not to be outdone, replied that she felt that my friend was also being rude.

(Rirst rule of business, never miss an opportunity to upstage a customer.)

My friend goes on to explain that she was flabbergasted and asked to speak to the woman’s boss, whom she has had a great relationship with for many years. The boss came on the line and he said that she (my friend) wouldn’t believe the calls that they get, one time someone ask for their address, shipped them a product and then asked for payment!

To which my friend replied, so what and who cares? I am trying to advertise your company and your products to all architects across the country at my expense and this is your response? Triple Duh!

All is well that ends well; the boss gave her the information she needed, apologized, and said he would speak to the switchboard operator… while my friend reshuffled his competitor to the top!

Some tips:

Know your customers; somebody should know the 30 year-old customer. If not get someone who does before you turn down their request.

Treat all your customers special; sure some are crack pots but if I want to do business with you “I’m special.”

Give people leeway in their decision making; the key is to get customers to stay – not go!

Send an apology note for the mix up; a bag of goodies, blog it. Go way beyond what’s expected and turn the unhappy customer into a raving fan as they say.

Be easy on employees; obviously this one had been instructed to do it a certain way; she was only doing her job. Maybe the job needed to be updated, maybe she needs to get to know the customers better.

Everyone has to care; there are only so many customers out there and more of you trying to get those customers. With less customers and more time on my hands, I can spend more time trying to steal your customers—if I’m smart!